357\u2013Finish Her\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kaylee:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is this, Your Highness?\u201d the warrior asked as I placed a suitcase in front of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an amount of money you could not count in days,\u201d I replied calmly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it for, Your Highness?\u201d he asked again. I could already see his throat move as he swallowed, his eyes fixed on the suitcase,\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do you not open it first?\u201d I suggested.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daniel began to open the suitcase. The moment he did, some of the cash spilled over. He smiled brightly before forcing the serious expression the warriors usually carried.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat am I getting paid for, Your Highness? Is there something you want me to do?\u201d he asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do you not have a seat with me?\u201d I told him, gesturing toward the couch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Graham was out with Elgin. He had rushed out in a hurry, while his father and Penny had gone to the hospital. That was why I had the moment to myself, and I decided to handle this matter alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As soon as Daniel sat down, I crossed one leg over the other and looked at him calmly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStart from the beginning,\u201d I told him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He began to explain what had happened, and the money clearly encouraged him to speak more freely. He mentioned everything, including the fact that Elgin said Elara was gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you are telling me that all the kids were outside?\u201d I asked and he nodded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you are telling me that you later received information from another warrior that Graham had found out it was actually Gina who was gone?\u201d I asked. He nodded again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the child you saw near the fence was Gina?\u201d I murmured.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He nodded once more, likely because he had not been able to tell which child was which in the dark. Madeline\u2019s children looked mediocre enough that it had not been easy for him to tell them apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After listening to him explain everything, I decided to speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo here is what you are going to do for me. It will be harmless. No one will ever be able to prove you wrong. You are getting paid to lie. And you are lying about someone who is not that important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As I spoke, I noticed the warrior\u2019s eyes kept drifting toward the open cash. I leaned forward and quickly closed the suitcase. If he wanted the money, he needed to listen carefully.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYour Highness, just tell me what I need to do,\u201d he insisted, a little too eager now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I cleared my throat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will tell Graham, once he returns, that you remember what you saw. You will say that you could not tell Elara and Gina apart, but that the events themselves were real. You will say that you could tell the difference between a boy and a girl. You will say the couple tried their best to protect Bodhi, while the daughters kept crying. Say that even Elara was left at the mercy of the monster. But when Madeline ignored Gina and ran toward Bodhi, that was when the monster got distracted. Elara managed to save herself, while Gina was left standing by the fence, crying alone,\u201d I explained carefully.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if Madeline tells him that is not what happened?\u201d Daniel asked, sounding uneasy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will not believe her. Why would you lie? Graham already thinks poorly of her, so he will believe you. And the result stays the same. Gina is gone. What you say matches the outcome. Just make sure you tell him the girls were taken for granted, and that both parents threw themselves toward the monster to save Bodhi,\u201d I finished.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daniel immediately began to nod and reached for the suitcase, but I slammed my hand down on it, making him jump.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut remember, Daniel, you are never to speak of this to anyone,\u201d I warned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He nodded again, smiling. I then removed my hand from the suitcase.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As we stood in front of Graham, the warrior said exactly what I wanted him to say. I was careful enough to have Lord Eldon with me when I questioned him about the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was only after Graham\u2019s father returned home with Penny that I suggested we discuss the incident with the warrior.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Graham looked furious. It was as if he had been stabbed in the chest. I could not believe how well everything had gone. The only thing connecting Graham to Madeline was gone now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It had been days since the monster took Gina. Of course, it had eaten her. Even her bones would be hard to find by now. And I had erased any sympathy Graham could ever have for Madeline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He stood there, tense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the warrior finished speaking, we all watched Graham. He took a few steps back, then grabbed a vase from the table and slammed it against the wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI will fucking kill that bitch. I will make her suffer every waking moment of her life,\u201d he screamed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His father and the warriors rushed to restrain him as he began to shift. I quickly stepped out of the living room. I could not witness such a violent reaction while I was pregnant. All I knew was that I had done my job well. 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
357\u2013Finish Her\u00a0 Kaylee:\u00a0 \u201cWhat is this, Your Highness?\u201d the warrior asked as I placed a suitcase in front of him.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-no-daddy-novel-by-novelnozi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19726,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19558\/revisions\/19726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}